The present invention generally relates to watercraft trailers, lifts, docks, and other apparatuses intended to remove watercraft from a body of water (collectively referred to herein as watercraft supports). The invention particularly relates to flotation devices for aligning a watercraft on a watercraft support when loading the watercraft on the watercraft support.
Boats are typically removed from a body of water and transported over land with the use of a boat trailer attached to a motor vehicle. In general, an operator locates and submerges at least a portion of the trailer in the body of water such that the boat may be maneuvered over the submerged portions of the trailer. Once the boat is centered and secured to the trailer, the trailer may be removed from the body of water with the boat supported thereon, generally on laterally-spaced stabilizing surfaces such as cushioned bunk boards or rollers (collectively referred to herein as bunk boards).
During the above-noted loading process, operators may experience difficulties when attempting to center the boat over the trailer. For example, the boat may drift during the loading process and come to rest on the trailer in an unaligned, off-centered position, and removal and subsequent reloading becomes necessary.
In addition, bunk boards are commonly secured to the trailer with a fixed height and width and therefore require a prescribed submersion depth of the trailer in order to properly load a boat on the trailer. Since the prescribed submersion depth of the trailer generally provides for only a portion of the trailer being in the water, an operator may have to winch the boat onto the trailer thereby dragging it on the bunk boards. This dragging may damage the bunk boards and/or scratch the bottom surface of the boat. Further, since the bunk boards are in a fixed position and wider than the boat, they may only keep the boat close to the center of the trailer during loading, rather than centered on the trailer, and therefore may not effectively direct the boat into a centered position. Due to the above-noted difficulties, the loading process may require an additional person to hold the boat manually while the operator positions the boat over the trailer to ensure that it is centered.
In addition to or as an alternative to winching the boat onto the trailer, an operator may attempt to navigate the boat at a relatively high speed toward the trailer such that the boat has sufficient momentum to force its way onto the trailer. This maneuver is referred to herein as power loading. While power loading the boat onto the trailer may be easier and faster than using a winch, it also may cause damage to the boat and/or bunk boards. Further, power loading may cause environmental damage to surrounding areas, for example, by disturbing the bottom of the loading area due to propeller wash or disturbing surrounding shorelines due to wake. Consequently, power loading may be prohibited and therefore not an option.
In view of the above, it can be appreciated that there are certain problems, shortcomings or disadvantages associated with the prior art, and that it would be desirable if a method or system were available for efficiently centering a boat relative to a boat trailer during the process of loading the boat on the trailer.